idiocy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: id=i=o=cy

CIDE DICTIONARY

idiocy, n. [From idiot; cf. Gr. uncouthness, lack of education, fr. . See Idiot, and cf. Idiotcy.].

 The condition or quality of being an idiot; absence, or marked deficiency, of sense and intelligence.  [1913 Webster]
"I will undertake to convict a man of idiocy, if he can not see the proof that three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

idiocy, n. (pl. -ies)
1 utter foolishness; idiotic behaviour or an idiotic action.
2 extreme mental imbecility.

Etymology

ME f. IDIOT, prob. after lunacy

THESAURUS

idiocy

amentia, arrested development, asininity, backwardness, battiness, blithering idiocy, brainlessness, buffoonery, clownishness, crackpottedness, crankiness, craziness, cretinism, daffiness, desipience, eccentricity, fatuity, fatuousness, folly, foolery, foolheadedness, foolishness, frivolity, frivolousness, giddiness, goofiness, half-wittedness, idiotism, imbecility, inanity, ineptitude, infantilism, insanity, lunacy, madness, mental defectiveness, mental deficiency, mental handicap, mental retardation, mindlessness, mongolianism, mongolism, mongoloid idiocy, moronism, moronity, niaiserie, nugacity, nuttiness, profound idiocy, queerness, retardation, retardment, sappiness, screwiness, senselessness, silliness, simple-wittedness, simplemindedness, simpleness, simplicity, stupidity, subnormality, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality, wackiness, weirdness, witlessness, zaniness, zanyism

ROGET THESAURUS

idiocy

Folly

N imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.